Customer Ratings & Reviews

Have had the laptop for about 3 weeks now, using it for both work and gaming, including VR. I bought it primarily as a way to play VR without moving my desktop around, and for that purpose, it has been excellent. I've noticed no performance issues thus far. It compares quite well to my desktop, which has a worse processor but also has a 1070. The Steam VR test gave a slightly worse score, but still very good (above 10). Performance wise, there's nothing to complain about here. Whether it's spreadsheets or video games, this laptop has been up to the task. Cosmetically, the MSI GS65 is a great looking laptop. Very sleek and very small for a gaming laptop. It has a nice metal feel and seems durable. The backlit keys are a nice touch, with each key having it's own customizable lighting. So far there are only two cons I've noticed: The trackpad isn't great. It's a bit stiff and just doesn't work super well. Also, the laptop can get pretty hot and the fan will be somewhat loud. All in all, it's a fantastic laptop. I highly recommend it to anyone looking.

Pros +Powerful Hex-Core i7 9th generation Intel processor +144hz screen with minimal backlight bleed +Comfortable keyboard and accurate touchpad +Thunderbolt 3 port +Very good build quality +Relatively quiet under load (fan noise is much lower than Aero 15x V8) +Microsoft Precision drivers for touchpad Cons -Battery life has been a bit inconsistent, but still above average -A ton of bloatware (but relatively easy to uninstall or start fresh) -Speakers could be louder, have more bass, and be positioned better -Case gets pretty warm under load -No Windows Hello support -No SD Card reader Summary This is a very good thin and light gaming laptop from MSI. The closest comparison is the Gigabyte Aero 15x V8 which was also recently released. I have used both machines and while I prefer the GS65, both are very good machines. The Aero 15x has slightly better build quality with a worse screen due to backlight bleeding. The GS65 has a more comfortable keyboard layout, uses Microsoft Precision drivers for the touchpad, is quieter, and has much less significant backlight bleed.

Good for gaming, but the battery life was just so terrible and it sounded like there were turbines spinning when it was under heavy loads.

I have been pleasantly surprised so far by this GS65 Thin-037 Laptop. After using it for a couple of days, here are my pros and cons: Pros- + Case design is simple and not obnoxious + The Steel Series keyboard key presses function well with a short travel distance and distinct clicks when depressed + Runs games at max settings with no issue (although you won't always have enough FPS to take advantage of the 144hz refresh rate) + Cooling system keeps internals relatively cool Cons- - System case quickly becomes unusually hot, even when used on a cool, flat surface (even though internals aren't getting too warm) - Monitor has a couple dead/stuck pixels, was sort of hoping in this day and age there would be enough QA to detect these sorts of things - Storage size might be an issue for some gamers that don't want to use an external drive and plan on downloading a lot of games at one time Overall, this system does exactly what it says. It's a high-power, thin/light-weight gaming laptop. And it excels at this.

This laptop is what is says. Thin and light with a lot of power to throw at you during the intense gaming sessions you might have. The build quality is very good, although there is a bit of screen wobble, but thats ok. Body is sturdy and solid. Not much flex under normal use. Fans behave funny sometimes. But thats ok, as they do their job of cooling the system down. but its when you are not putting a lot of load the fans start spinning at high RPMs for no reason. Gaming performance is very very good. Gives above 90 FPS on DOOM, NFS, Shadow of war. These are all i have played till now. Keyboard is brilliant with good customisation and the key presses themselves are quite good. Trackpad is not too great but much better than other windows laptops i have used. Sound quality on headphones is awesome. And the speaker themselves are not too bad. Give decent sound. The laptop is a finger magnet though, which is not much of a problem if you're willing to take care of this beauty of a laptop.

HI, I am currently attending the University of Texas at Dallas and majoring in Computer Science. I have been using this laptop as a college laptop for the past two weeks and it is perfect for what I need. The MSI GS65 is the perfect size and weight for carrying from class to class in my backpack. The battery is massive which makes it perfect for if I want to move somewhere to work on a group project. It has been estimating 7-8 hours of use while I am doing some light browsing and note taking during class. The laptop is perfectly capable of handling anything that you throw at it as far as a big load such as gaming or rendering. The fans are very quiet while browsing the web or taking notes, but really spin up and get relatively louder when they have a heavy load. The metal frame does flex when you push down on it, but nothing severe to cause concern. The display is beautiful and should be perfect if you were looking to do some color work.

You will regret it . Had to undownload all adapts and re install them . Was a pain with out internet had to download new drives

I have been using this laptop now for a couple of days. I love it! Playing FarCry 5 with high setting and no problems! I have my keyboard lit up like the American Flag, it has sooo many options. The unit is light enough to take with me to meetings and fast enough for me to game with the guys. The only downfall I have found so far is the single m.2 drive and the way they split it up. That is an easy fix but 512 is not enough. I am using an external 3TB drive right now to load all the games to save space and it still works great. I will eventually add a second M.2 drive to help also. So far no other issues. Gets warm when gaming but it is really thin so is to be expected. Can't say enough good about it at this point. Will update if I run into any other issues but if you need a thin and light gaming laptop this is the one! And it is a great looking unit to boot!!

Right off the bat, you'll notice that this computer is solid plastic, not the advertised metal constructions. I feels flimsy, and creeks every time you click the mouse pad. It come's jammed packed full of bloatware. Mine, upon receiving it, will not charge the battery. For the money spent on this thing, I was expecting a much higher quality built device.

I needed to get a new laptop because I was going back to school. Started looking at 2-1 and than a gaming laptops. Narrowed decision to a gaming laptop, but did not want to get a bulky and heavy laptop. Went to best buy and saw this model, but did not make the purchase at the time of store visit. Ended up doing more reserve and comparison between the Razer Blade 15 and this MSI GS65. What sawyed me to ge the MSI was the value and number of good reviews. Pros: 1. 512 GB SSD hard drive - super fast! RAZER had a 256GB with 1TB regular HDD, storage was higer with RAZER, but I prefer to get an external HDD 2. Graphics card was a 1070 vs 1060 for RAZER Blade, 8 core vs 6 core 3. Steels series keyboard is really cool 4. Form factor thin bezel and overall laptop design with the dragon logo Cons: 1. No touch screen, RAZER does have touch screen 2. storage ony 512GB 3. Laptop get really hot when playing Destiny 2 4. Fan noise is very noticeble 5. Also I had problems when I first got the computer because there was something wrong with the drivers for the wireless network adaptor. All of the sudden there was no internet connection and it could not see any wi-fi networks. Ended up downloading the latest drivers and that seemed to fix the problems, but I spend a significant amount of time doing, my expectation was to get a working computer that would not require me to update drives from the beginning. So far I am very satisfied with my purchase, I also got $100 off at Best Buy because they were running a pre Black Friday sale

The specs looked great. Cooling looked up to the task. But, it's so lightly built that I was immediately concerned that it may pretty easily break. The screen and body flex so extremely that it's scary. Then, after hours of updates, the wireless died... Didn't even really have a chance to test out the performance of the unit... I returned it and bought another Macbook Pro. (But, I didn't really want to...)

So I recently picked up the Asus GU501 and there was a lot to love. However the battery life left a lot to be desired and while slim it was still a bit heavy and wide for what I was looking for. Kind of sad since I got it for $100 off on memorial day over. So while I could still decide I got the GS65 which I didnt even know before there was a Best buy model. In summary what I liked better about each Asus GU501 No stupid flipped motherboard Better software and bios Better Build quality by a bit $600 cheaper Better thermals and fan noise Numpad Better trackpad surface MSI GS65 noticeably smaller footprint and lighter way less bezel and 144hz vs 120hz Better RGB keyboard More clicky Keyboard More mature look (more comfortable bringing it into meetings) Better battery size larger trackpad 2 NVME slots Smaller powerbrick Hinge goes back more A lot of people complained about the build quality but I think it's fine honestly. While the razer blade 15 is more solid, I'm not going to pay another $600 more on their QC lottery and deal with their CS for the equivalent spec notebook. My biggest issues with the GS65 is the idiocy of a flipped motherboard and the thermals/software. Otherwise pretty satisfied so far as I do more undervolt and optimization. Hope this helps someone

I'm not one to write reviews (I spend far too long thinking up and editing my words) but, like others, the promise of a free headset was enough encouragement to take a crack at it. That said, I'll give my honest thoughts after using this laptop daily for the last 2+ months. I purchased my GS65 Stealth Thin because my old laptop suddenly failed, and I was in desperate need of a laptop for work. I wanted something light and sleek, but with a beefy dedicated video card. The vast majority of gaming laptops are, in my estimation, supremely ugly. Awful slanted case designs, bright red lighting everywhere, built like tanks. So I was surprised to find among my local Best Buy's limited selection, this laptop that was as thin as my old one, elegant in design, AND packing lots of power under the lid. This laptop looks great. Thin bezel around the screen. Rounded edges everywhere. Subtle gold trim accenting the black case. In fact, aside from the dragon logo on the lid and RGB keyboard, one might not realize it's a gaming laptop at all. Everyone is talking about the gaming performance (and rightly so) but I'm a programmer, so during the day the extra power is being put to use running IDEs and the various supportive software that lets me do my job, and this laptop handles it all without breaking a sweat. My compile times are noticeably shorter, IntelliJ doesn't hiccup at all, and at any given time I have 2 IDEs, 4 CLI, Spotify, and an unconscionable number of Chrome tabs open and never notice a drop in speeds. The batter life is good too. It never hits the advertised length of time, but no battery ever does. This one lasts longer than my old laptop for general use, and that one wasn't even a gaming laptop. I think I get about 3-4 hours off a full charge. In fact, I can leave all that running and this laptop will happily run DOOM on Ultra settings with a silky smooth frame rate. Fallout 4? No problem at all. I haven't found a game that even gives it trouble yet (though, truth be told, I'm still working my way through games my old laptop couldn't even run). I'm also a hobbyist game dev, so I often have Unity, Photoshop, Blender, or other tool open, and they all run smoothly and load quickly. And this laptop is VR ready, so once I finally have the money to buy a headset, I'm ready. It's not all sunshine and rainbows (except for the keyboard, which has an assortment of fun patterns/animations and even lets you customize per-application layouts). * I had some trouble with my wireless card constantly cycling when I first got the laptop. Luckily that seemed to be a software issue because some combination of reloading the drivers and rebooting my modem/router fixed it. * The downside of the powerful 1070 is it needs a lot of room for cooling. So where most laptops have ports running along the side all the way to the back, this laptop has a 3" space for vents. That means the power cord attaches almost in the middle of the right side, and there are only 3 USB slots. There is an HDMI, USB-C slot, full sized ethernet port, and a thunderbolt port, so those are great, but you might want to invest in a USB hub. The audio and mic ports are separate instead of combined, which I actually prefer. * Speaking of cooling, the fans will get loud when you game (hence needing that headset I mentioned earlier). That was expected and I'm fine with that. However, recently a fan has started making contact with something, so even when the computer is idling the fan is extremely audible. When gaming it now turns into a full on buzz saw. Lifting and reseating the laptop helps briefly, but the problem soon returns. * This is less of an issue, but the font used for the keyboard keys is silly. It's still legible and doesn't hamper use, but it doesn't look good either. So, overall I really love this laptop. It's blazing fast, runs everything I throw at it (sometimes all at once), looks great, and weighs nothing! My only real complaint is the loud grinding fan noise. It's annoying, and I'm concerned it's a sign of more failures to come (especially if the cooling system isn't operating as well as it should). I haven't tried contacting MSI support yet, but I'll update this review if I do.

I bought this laptop in early June from the online store and received it very soon after. I have been using the heck out of it ever since. I love the power that the i7-8750-H combined with the GTX 1070 and 16GB of RAM brings to the table. In such a small package to boot. The Dragon Center software is very useful and I really like being able to check on my CPU and GPU temperatures with ease. I rarely have to worry about this however as the 3 fans keep everything nice and cool. The battery life is surprisingly good for being a gaming laptop and that's while gaming. The only con for me is that there is not a whole lot of storage compared to how big games are now. Other than that, I highly recommend this laptop.

I bought this computer and I had to return it 3 times. The first one came with one hinge broken, the second one had ugly gaps and the build quality was bad, the third one was acceptable but one of the fans would make weird sounds. I am really disappointed, MSI makes good computers, but they do not have the best build quality.

This computer was pretty pricey, but the battery life even while playing games and multitasking homework and videos is astounding. I've only really had it for about two months and I don't know much about computers, but it feels really smooth when I am playing and the computer is able to handle high frame rates and intense games. The keys feel nice when I'm playing. The screen is the perfect size, the weight is perfect, and I love how it is able to perform so well while remaining thin and portable. I use it everyday to play games, but the fans never get too loud. The metal casing doesn't make my hands too sweaty either, and it is easy to set up. Perfect for games and everyday life.

I can only describe the GS65 as a top-of-the-line laptop, and for the current price point, it is well worth it. This does not mean it is perfect however, and it does have a few problems but the pros heavily outweigh the cons. The power of the system is evident, and it easily reaches 60 fps or higher on a vast majority of games. For example, I use it for games like Arma 3, Killing Floor 2, and Battlefield 4. *Note:* If you buy this laptop and notice your games being stuck at 30 fps, plug it in to the charger, FPS gets locked at 30 when unplugged. This is to conserve battery and enhance performance. It took me a bit to realize why it was stuck there admittedly. - With Arma 3, I can easily reach 50-60 fps in single player on Ultra setttings. Now, frames typically drop in multiplayer, so I set the settings to High, and it performs at 60 fps even in a 110 player server. - With Killing Floor 2, frames consistently stay at 60 fps+ on the highest settings, and during some of the more intense moments of a match. - With Battlefield 4, although BF4 is an older game comparatively, it is still a decent test for computers but the GS65 knocks it out of the park. Even as explosions are going off constantly and bullets are flying around, the FPS barely fluctuates from what I can tell. Now as far as how the laptop looks, it has a much more elegant design compared to most other brands. Between the, sleek, lightweight design, the gold and black color scheme and the individually customizable RGB keyboard, it is a laptop that is great to look at - Sleek and Lightweight: This is definitely a laptop I would be fine with taking anywhere. Light enough and small enough that it doesn't become a burden to carry, but also big enough to not hinder your gaming experience. - Color Scheme: The black and gold do wonders for this laptop, and the gold is not too prominent either. The MSI logo on the top of the lid looks great in the gold coloring, and is not obnoxiously large. - RGB Keyboard: The keyboard on the GS65 is individually customizable per key, meaning you can change the color of the keyboard to exactly how you want it. Don't want the lights? You can turn them off. Want it to be in the color of an American flag? They already have a preset set up for that. Now for the cons: - Hard Drive Space: The biggest problem for me with this laptop is the limited disk space, obviously I can simply buy an external hard drive, but if you don't have one of those, the 512 GB default space is barely anything, especially if you plan on having a lot of games installed due to the size of modern titles. - Fan Noise: This is a fairly small problem, and it's not like it's extremely loud, but if you use a mic frequently, the noise from your fans may travel through your mic and annoy those you're talking to. So if you do use a mic, make sure you have it set on push-to-talk to avoid some potential problems. Other things: - Battery: The battery doesn't typically last too long if you're using it for gaming while unplugged, so if you plan on playing for a long session, plug it in. But just using it for other things, like writing documents, browsing websites, or watching Youtube, the battery can last for approximately 6 hours(haven't fully tested it) So in short: This is, in my opinion, one of the best laptops you can get at the moment for gaming, and I have no regrets about purchasing the GS65.

There's not many thin and light gaming laptops out there than can keep up with the latest games without weighing a ton. Of the few out there that strike a balance between portability and power, this one is the best performance per dollar you're going to find. The only other that comes close is the Razor, but you'll have to pay more and you have a non-standard keyboard layout and what is arguably an uglier laptop. The MSI GS65 is definitely more professional looking, instead of looking "gamery". You can read the spec sheet, so I'm not going to cover all the things you can figure out for yourself. I'll just focus on the things that won't usually be covered. Pros: 1. Really sturdy for such a thin and light laptop. The screen has a little bit of flex, but the main body is solid. 2. Battery life is very good when using normally. Don't expect miracles when gaming though, there's no laptop in the world that can power an 8th gen i7 and a 1070 for long periods of time. Just plug it in when gaming. 3. This thing looks sweet in person. Much prefer it to the looks of the Razor equivalent, and it's several hundred dollars cheaper. 4. 144Hz beautiful screen with ultra thin bezels. At this size, it's much better for gaming to have a 1080p screen at 100+ FPS than a 1440p or 4K running slower. The higher resolution is harder to notice on a smaller screen unless you have your face against it, and the trade-off in FPS and battery life are just not worth it. 5. Webcam which is on the top where it belongs (lots of ultra thins have been putting nose cams on the bottom bezel). 6. Very minimal bloatware from a store-bought laptop. Cons: 1. This version has a single M.2 drive instead of the faster NVMe drives found on other SKUs. Not a huge issue, but that's one of the reasons why it's cheaper. 2. The SSD is also partitioned for some reason. It's all one physical drive, and SSDs work better the larger they are (due to the way data is written), so before you do anything, use a disk partitioning tool to combine them. No idea why MSI decided to do this. 3. While technically it's got an unused M.2 slot and you can upgrade the RAM, MSI did not make it easy. This laptop is not meant to be user upgradeable. You basically have to tear the whole laptop apart to get to the RAM and M.2 slots, so upgrading the laptop is not as simple as in many other laptops, if that's something you're interested in. I've upgraded all my previous laptops with new SSDs and more RAM after a year or two, but I'm very hesitant about doing that for this one. Seriously, go look up a youtube teardown, it's crazy the amount of work it takes. 4. The trackpad is not great. With some tweaking, it's tolerable, but out of the box it was pretty bad. It's a gaming laptop, so I expect to use a mouse a lot of the time, but it's also meant to be portable, so for those times when you're just browsing the web with it on your lap, it's kinda annoying. 5. The surface is a fingerprint magnet. I wish they went with a brushed finish or something. I'm probably going to get a vinyl skin for it at some point.

Gaming is awesome on it, but it got too hot when playing for long periods.

I was looking for a modern laptop that was A) lightweight like the Apple laptops tend to be so it was easy to carry around and B) Powerful enough to do game (VR & non-VR) & art development on. My work uses the Razer Blade laptops, and those were the first time I had seen A & B married together well. I was tempted to go with those, but I was heavily warned to avoid them due to Razer having terrible hardware reliability. On my search for a replacement it leg me to the Gigabyte series and this MSI laptop. The Gigabyte series got dangerously close, but immediately was rejected when I saw their keyboard layout non-standard and I've learned the hardway on their series that this will eventually drive you made and prompt to ask why you spend this money to feel this way. I was unsure about MSI's layout since it didn't have dedicated buttons for the trackpad, but after trying it out in person in Best But the keyboard layout felt great and the trackpad was not a nightmare to use (as in you're not constantly accidentally hitting it, looking at you Gigabyte >:( ) As of this writing I've had it for about 3 weeks now, and have yet to come up with any major issues that make me regret spending the money on it. I haven't found a game so far that can cause this thing to slow down, even Hellblade at fullest possible settings didn't drop noticeably. It's lightweight and and is easy to transport, and the screen is fantastic. Looks sleek and not like some bulky 'gamer' laptop with ridiculous ridges all over it. So it's everything I was looking for and thensome. COMPLAINT TIME: So none of these bring me any regrets for purchase, but they're worth noting for anyone else looking for the cons on this thing. - Casing is plastic, and somewhat bendable. I'm less concerned with how this might make it 'cheap looking' and how this might provide wear and tear in the long run. - Trackpad is not as good as the Razer Blade's, as in without the visible physical buttons I'm occasionally doing the wrong right click. That said, it still feels better than most other laptops I've tried that have this similar trackpad feel. I'm betting with some adjustments this can be overcome somehow. - Charging port is right in the middle of the right side. This gets brought up in reviews, and I thought this would actually bug me. But to be honest, it's not that bad. Still though, sorta weird. - Accessing the internals to replace/extend your hard-drive is probably going to be tricky. I haven't done this yet, but I've seen this come up in other reviews and the Best Buy associate didn't give me a lot of confidence in how easy this might be to do. - Comes loaded with bloatware. Easy enough to uninstall it all or just reformat though. No problems there. Anyways, still a solid purchase. I'm very glad I went with it.